Voting is for everyone. The PLUG Cartel is made up of three groups: Advisory Board, Voting College and the all-important Fan Vote.

PLUG Advisory Board
These are particularly active members of the independent music community who fight tirelessly to raise the voice of independent artists and releases in every medium. They include indie retailers, commercial specialty and college radio programmers, fans, artists, labels, writers, filmmakers, music supervisors, managers and agents. AB members choose each year's nominees. Nominations are collected in October.